UVA Murder

Lax Player's Life of Privilege, Rage

Friends reveal two sides of George Huguely.

The day before he was charged with first-degree murder, UVA lacrosse player George Huguely V played a round at the well-manicured Farmington Country Club, an exclusive refuge in Charlottesville. His team was celebrating the end of a top-flight regulation season. Hours later, Huguely was allegedly smacking his former girlfriend Yeardley Love's head into a wall, police say. There were two sides to the 22-year-old, The Washington Post reports Sunday—one of privilege and one of rage. "The George we knew wasn't capable of that," a family friend said about Love's murder. "There had to be a different George that was inside that head." The child of divorce, Huguely still grew up wanting for little. He attended an elite private school in Maryland. His hot-headed father often took members of the lacrosse team on fishing trips aboard his 40-foot yacht. Lacrosse players and locals tell stories of a young man at once polite and also frequently on the edge of violence.